The Epic that is Nalu
by kandigore
Summary: It's a typical day at the Fairy Tail guild when Natsu finds himself jealous that Lucy has been going on job quests with Gray.
1. Chapter 1

"Never any good jobs anymore, Happy. How's Lucy supposed to pay for her rent if we can't find a decent job?"

The blue cat floated behind his pink haired friend and sighed. "You don't always have to worry about Lucy, ya know. She always finds jobs by herself."

Natsu turned and narrowed his eyes at the cat.

"Seriously, Natsu. Just look for a job you want to do."

"I guess you're right, Happy. Lucy has been going on a lot of jobs by herself lately. Let's take this job!" Natus grabbed a random flyer off the board and looked at it. There was a picture of an animal shelter in Shirotsune. The job description stated that they were looking for someone to helo out at the shelter tomorrow. The reward was 1.000 Jewel for every hour the mage worked.

"Natsu, that job looks stupid," Happy snarked.

"Let's go anyway!"

"That looks like a job Lucy would take."

"What looks like a job I would take?"

Happy nabbed the flyer and flew over to Lucy. "This one."

Lucy looked at the job description. "That looks super cute!, Natsu, let's go!"

"But, Lucy, that reward isn't very good. If we split it, you won't have enough for your rent."

"I just got back from a job with Gray. The reward was 200,000 Jewel, so I got half of that. I've got plenty for my rent! Come on, Natsu! It'll be fun!"

Behind them, Juvia was playing out her reunion with Gray.

"Gray-sama! You were gone so long! Juvia missed you!"

Gray just rolled his eyes and went up to Mirajane.

"Hey Mira. Can I get some water?"

"Sure thing, Gray!"

Mira turned to grab a glass of water when it hit Natsu (and Juvia) that Gray and Lucy had gone on a job quest. Together. And alone.

Natsu made his way over to Gray and Juvia to Lucy.

"Yo, Gray! I gotta talk to you!"

"What is it now, Natsu?"

"What do you think you're doing, going on jobs with my partner?"

Gray sighed. "What are you talking about, Natsu?"

"Lucy. She's my partner. You can't just up and go on job quests with my partner!"

*meanwhile with Juvia and Lucy*

"Lucy!"

"Hey, Juvia. What's up?"

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Huh?"

"With Gray-sama! You're going on job quests with Juvia's Gray-sama alone! Juvia trusted you, Lucy!"

"Wait, Juvia, do you think-"

"Gray-sama! My Gray-sama! Oh, tell me you haven't tainted Juvia's Gray-sama!"

Lucy couldn't help but giggle. "Tainted? Juvia, Gray and I aren't-"

*sob sob*

"We're not doing anything, Juvia!"

*sob so-* "You're not"

"No!"

*back with Gray and Natsu*

"Yo, Natsu, nothin's goin on. It was just a job."

"I'm really fired up, Gray. Let's fight!"

"Natsu, just-"

Natsu punched Gray and Gray stood and they began to fight. Somewhere in the brawl, Gray-obviously-lost his clothes.

*meanwhile with Juvia and Lucy*

"Oh! Juvia was so worried! I thought you were gonna be my LOVE RIVAL."

"Juvia, we're friends. I know you like Gray. I'd never do anything to hurt you."

The girls turned to see the boys fighting and Juvia's eyes went wide. "Gray-sama, your clothes!"

"Hey, Natsu!" Lucy yelled. "Gray! Calm down, would ya?"

The boys didn't seem to hear her and continued throwing punching.

"Natsu! Gray!" Happy tried his best to break the two up. "Erza's coming!"

Everything seemed to stop. It was as if earth land has just stopped moving. Then, suddenly, everything moved at super speed. Gray put his clothes back on, Natsu tried his best to calm himself down, Juvia and Lucy smiled and waited patiently for Erza's arrival while everyone else ran around like mad men. By the time Erza arrived. everything seemed… too perfect.

The front doors of the guild busted open and Erza appeared with her face shadowed underneath her hair. "Mira!"

Mirajane popped up from behind her counter and produced a strawberry cheesecake. "For you, Erza!"

Erza stalked up to the counter, passing Gray and Natsu, who were smiling rather awkwardly, hoping to go undetected by the flaming haired S-class mage.


	2. Chapter 2

"Good to know you two are getting along so well, Natsu and Gray." Erza said as she passed the smiling bafoons.

Natsu and Gray smiled even more and Erza claimed her cake.

AND THEN...

Natsu and Lucy were making their way to the train station. Happy was floating behind them, off in his own little world.

"So hey, Lucy," Natsu said. "Why'd you go on that job quest with Gray?"

Lucy shrugged. "I needed my rent money."

Natsu shook his head. "You always need your rent money. But why didn't you ask me? I thought I was your teammate?"

At this comment, Lucy blushed. "Well of course, Natsu. But I just really needed my rent money."

Natsu only sighed. "Okay."

The two walked in silence for the rest of the way to the train station.

Later that day...

Natsu and Lucy arrived at the train station. Everything was fine. Until, of course, the train started moving. Lucy sighed and turned toward Happy. "How are things going with Carla?"

"She never takes the fish I offer her."

Lucy smiled. "Maybe you should stop eating the fish right in front of her after she refuses them. That might help..."

Happy seemed to contemplate this, then got lost in thought.

Lucy sighed. With Natsu immobile and Happy lost in his own world, this was going to be a very boring train ride to Shirotsume.

After a while, the train seemed to be slowing down. "Hey Happy," Lucy said. "Does the train feel like it's slowing down to you?"

Happy looked out the window. "We're deffinitely slowing down, but we're nowhere near Shirotsume."

As the train neared a stop, Natsu began to stir. "We're there already?"

Happy shook his head. "We're only stopping."

Natsu was puzzled. "Why?"

Lucy shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe they'll tell us."

Just then, the train's conductor announced: "I'm sorry to announce that the train is experiencing some difficulties. We will be up and running by morning."

Natsu smiled. "Awesome! No more moving objects. Lucy, we should walk."

"What?! Natsu, we're not even half where there. It will take forever!"

"It's better than waiting for this train forever."

Lucy shook her head. "Not forever, Natsu. Just until morning."

"Yeah, but we need to be at the shelter by morning. Come on, Lucy. Let's walk."

Happy agreed. "Natsu's right, Lucy."

Lucy sighed, but reluctantly agreed. "Alright, then. Let's go."

The trio made it all the way to the front of the train when, suddenly, all the lights flickered off and there was a loud cackle.

"Good luck getting off this train," came a sinister voice from the behind them.

Instinctively, Lucy turned around and grabbed her keys. "Who said that?"

There was another cackle before someone emerged from the shadows. "Tis I, the LOVE DOCTOR! I have come to help you two fall madly IN LOVE!"

Lucy and Natsu looked at each other, and then quickly looked away, both of them slightly blushing.

"Yo, what are you talking about?" Natsu asked.

"I'm talking about you and your LADY friend." The Love Doctor wriggled with every word. "She obviously llllllllikes you!"

"Hey!" Happy turned, finally aware of everything that was going on. "That's my line!"

Lucy blushed even harder. "Listen, we're just trying to get to Shirotsume to help at a pet shelter. We don't have time for this."

"Nonsense! Come come, with me. You will fall in LOVE!" He grabbed Lucy's hand and tried to drag her down the train, but before he could even take a step, Natsu flamed up.

"Let go of her!"

The Love Doctor yelped and let go of Lucy. After staring at Natsu for a while, a creepy smile spread across his face. "I can see that you already-"

"Lllllllllllllllllllike her," Happy cut in.

Natsu and Lucy blushed even harder and turned away from each other.

"My work here is done!" The Love Doctor announced. "Commrades, start this train! These two need to get to Shirotsume by morning!"

Slowly, but surely, the train was finally back up to full speed, and Natsu was back to being immobile. Everything was back to normal-until the trio arrived at the pet shelter...


	3. Chapter 3

The trio arrived at the Shirtsume pet shelter early in the morning, before the doors even opened for customers. Natsu knocked on the door several times before the owner came and let them in.

"Welcome, welcome! Come inside, I'll show you what you must do-come!"

Natsu and Lucy followed the man-he was short, stout and had a pudgy figure and his fat cheeks were rosy-he almost looked like a fat little dog! He lead them to the back of the shelter, where all of the animals wnet to get bathed and pampered, so they would look perfect when people came to adopt.

"This is where you will be working," the owner explained. "All these animals MUST be pampered before they go up front. I'll show you how it all works."

The owner went about showing Natsu and Lucy the PROPER way to pamper each and every animal-even the Komodo Dragons-which Natsu took a liking to instantly.

"It's a dragon!"

"Well, not a REAL dragon..." the owner tried to explain.

"DRAGON!" Natsu lifted the Komodo Dragon from it's cage. It has slightly red scaled and a long tongue. Natsu begain to twirl around with a slight blush on his face. "I've found a dragon!" He whispered.

The owner just let it go, and went on to explain the rest of the procedure to Lucy.

Somewhere amidst all of this, Happy had gotten distracted by a group of cats messing with a couple of dogs. "I'll be back later," he said.

Lucy giggled. "Have fun, Happy!"

Happy floated off to join the cats in their game, while Lucy tried to get Natsu to pay attention to their job. "Natsu," she scolded. "I'm not going to share the reward if you don't help."

"But Lucy! It's a dragon!"

"And you can play with it again when it's his turn to get all cleaned up." Lucy felt like she was scolding a small child. "Come on, Natsu. Let's work."

Natsu frowned, but put the Komodo Dragon down to help Lucy bathe a group of small dogs.

After a while, Natsu and Lucy decided to take a quick break so Natsu could play with the Komodo Dragon some more.

"Wow," Lucy thought. "Natsu looks really adorable with that Komodo Dragon. It's probably the closest thing he'll ever get to Igneel... I think I'll buy it for him with my reward money!"

Lucy smiled at Natsu before getting back to work. She let Natsu be for a while-he just looked way too cute!

"Hey, Lucy!" Natsu yelled after a while.

"Yes, Natsu?" Lucy turned around to find the Komodo Dragon right in her face, sticking it's tongue out at her.

"I'm naming him... Hono! It means flame!"

Lucy could only giggle-just just hoped Happy wouln't get jealous. She snuck a peek at the cat, who was paying no attention to Natsu and Lucy whatsoever.

"Alright, Natsu, let's get back to work. We still have all those cats and Komodo Dragons to do. I want to be back at the guild by tomorrow morning!"

Natsu set Hono back in his cage and got back to helping Lucy with the cats. By the time they were done with that, the sun ald already begun to set.

"On, no!" Lucy was shocked. "Natsu! We'll miss the last train!"

Natsu looked out the window and frowned, but his frown quickly turned into a smile. "That's okay! We can find somewhere to stay!"

"Like where?" Lucy was curous.

"Like the inn across the street! We can finish our job here, and stay there when we're done! We'll leave on the first train tomorrow."

Lucy sighed and looked down at her hands. They were all pruney from washing so many animals all day long. At last, she shrugged. "I guess we can do that. Okay, Natsu, let's finish!"

"Yeah!" Natsu set the Komodo Dragon in the wash basin. "Let's go, Lucy. I'm all fired up!"

Lucy smiled, and the two got back to work. They were done just as the sun was finishing it's set.

"Awesome!" Lucy said, pumping her fist in the air. "Let's get Happy and go tell the owner!"

Happy was curled up in a ball next to a fluffy dog. "Happy..." Lucy whispered as she gently picked him up and the three of them made their way to the front of the store where the owner was sweeping up. Natsu and Lucy waited patiently for the owner to notice them.

"Oh! Hello, hello!" The owner finally noticed them. "All done back there?"

Natsu and Lucy nodded enthusiastically as the owner smile annd collected their rewards. "Thank you so much for your help!"

Natsu and Lucy smiled and finally made their way to the inn across the street after a long, hard day's work.


	4. Chapter 4

"The inn only has one room left?!" Lucy looked from Natsu back to the consierge.

Natsu only laughed. "Come on, Lucy, it's no different from normal. Just think of it as me sneaking in to stay the night at your place like I always do."

"Yeah, but I don't invite you over, you just show up and half the time I do t even know you're there until morning!"

Natsu only shrugged. "It just like normal." Then, to the concierge, he said: "We'll take the room." Then he grabbed Lucy's hand and almost dragged her to the one room in the whole inn-the smallest room with one bed and barely room to move around.

Lucy sighed. "It's a good thing I'm tired. Doesn't look like there's much to do here anyway... Hey!"

As Lucy had been setting her stuff down, Nasty and Happy had taken over the bed.

"Come on, Lucy," Matzo patted the side of the bed next to him. "There's room. I'm getting sleepy."

Just as Lucy was laying down, Natsu began to snore. Lucy smiled and snuggled up under the blanket. "Goodnight, Natsu... Happy."

"...Night, Lucy..."

Natsu and Lucy woke up early to catch a train back to Magnolia. Lucy was the first to stir. When she opened her eyes, she noticed Natsu's arm around around her, and he was cuddled up close to her. Out of shock, Lucy jumped out of the bed and blushed fiercely.

Natsu blinked his eyes open. "Hmm? What's up?"

Lucy only blushed harder in response.

*Jeez, Lucy. You'd think I did this..." Natsu got up out of the bed and grabbed Lucy's face with his gentle, fire-warmed hands and kissed her softly on her lips. His were warm and powerful, yet soft and caressing. His hands wound into her hair as the kiss became more passionate and...*

"It's nothing, Natsu... Come on, we have to get going."

"Don't you wanna get something to eat first" Natsu sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Fish!"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Okay fine. You two go get some some food"

While Natsu and Happy went to get food, Lucy went back across the street to the pet shelter. The owner greeted her happily.

"Hello, hello! Back so soon?"

Lucy nodded. "Yup! I'm here to adopt a pet!"

The owner smiled. "Yes, yes! Which animal has your fancy?"

Lucy pointed to Hono. "That red-tinted Komodo Dragon. How much is he?"

"For you, only 1000 Jewel. He's rather rare, you see."

"I have more than enough. I'll buy some food, too!"

And then!

Lucy and Natsu arrive back at Fairy Tail in the late afternoon. Lucy immediately went back home so she could get Hono ready for Natsu. Natsu decided to go inside the guild.

Gray was the first to meet him. "Yo, Natsu! Where'd Lucy go?"

"What's it to you, Gray?"

Juvia appeared behind Natsu and stared intently at Gray. "Gray-sama?"

"It's none of your business, Natsu, I just need to talk to her."

"Well," Natsu put his fists on his hips. "Tell me what you need to say, and I'll tell her for you."

Juvia nodded enthusiastically.

"Natsu, it's just easier if I talk to her myself. Where'd she go?"

"How should I know? She does what she wants, Gray."

"I'm getting real pissed here, Natsu."

"And I'm getting real fired up!"

"Hey!"

"ERZA" Happy flew over and hid behind Erza's armor.

"Stop this incessant fighting, you two. I thought you were all getting along!"

"Natsu's being stupid!" Gray whined.

"So's Gray!"

"Both of you!" Erza was starting to get very frustrated. "You're both acting like brats, now SHUT UP!"

Natsu and Gray scuttled back before looking at each other and grinning.

"I'm gonna go find Lucy," Natsu whispered.

"Me too!"

The two ran out, and with that, the guild was calm again.


End file.
